184 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
No. 149. 
GRANDMOTHER AND CHILD. 
(Engraved for the American Agriculturist.) 
The Editor wit : His Young' Readers. 
I.ast month, p. 152rwe gave a picture of one of the 
grandmothers of “ Old Englan i,” who was teaching her 
little grand-daughter to sew. Here we have a charming 
picture of one of the grandmothers in Germany, away in 
the center of Europe—in “ clem Vaterland,” as our Ger¬ 
man friends love to call the home of their ancestors. We 
should like to get hold of the hand of the noble artist, 
Meyer, whose kind heart led him to choose for the sub¬ 
ject of one of his master paintings so interesting a scene 
ns the one we have here engraved. How much alike are 
these good old grandmothers, wherever we find them, 
whether in England or Germany, or here in our own 
land. Do not such pictures as these lead our young read¬ 
ers to appreciate and love their grand-parents more than 
evert We hope so. 
It would almost seem strange that we should ask our 
young readers whether any one of them has ever spoken 
unkindly to a grand-parent, and yet we once heard a lit¬ 
tle girl do so. The good old lady was worn down with 
care, and enfeebled with the weight of almost fourscore 
years, yet she devoted her whole remaining strength to a 
group of little ones. One afternoon she was knitting a 
pair of woolen shoes for “ baby,” and her ball chanced to 
drop from her lap, when a playful kitten rolled it off under 
the bed and she asked little Anna to get it for her. But Anna 
was engaged with her playthings, and her reply was : 
“ I don’t want to. I wish grandmother wouldn't stay 
here for I don’t want to wait on her.” The old lady 
cooked sad a moment, but she tottered across the room, 
got a broom, and slowly bending down upon her knees 
brushed out, the ball from under the bed. And so we sup¬ 
pose she kept on, year after year, slighted and ill-treated 
by those whom she loved. The fact was, she was a poor 
widow, while the parents of Anna were “ well off,” which 
made her feel very important. Little did she know how 
much pain she gave that good old lady by her careless 
treatment and neglect. We have felt badly a thousand 
times, as we have thought of that old lady stooping to get 
her ball of thread. We have not seen nor heard of Anna 
for several years, but we hope she has lived to repent of 
her unkindness. Are there any “ Annas ” 'among our 
young readers ? We hope, and believe not. One word 
more about our picture. Do you see how pleasod the 
little fellow is, as he “paddles” in the wash bowl? 
Grandma had got out the water, and the soap you see on 
the table, to give him his morning wash ; but he has got 
hold of the sponge, and his hands in the water, and now 
grandma is holding the bowl steadily so that he can not 
upset it. How roguish he looks, and how pleased she is 
to see his exploits 1 
Rub a dub, dub 1 Rub a dub, dub ! What in the world 
is coming. Drums beating, bugles playing, colors flying, 
and guns and swords shining. Has the emperor of France 
sent his soldiers here to make war, or is it general train¬ 
ing day ? On they go, past our office window here, look¬ 
ing as gay, as bright coats, handsome caps, and ornament¬ 
ed weapons, can make them. It would be a rare sight for 
many of you to see these city soldiers. They do look hand¬ 
some, and it is all the more pleasant to look at them, 
knowing that they are only on parade, that is, out show ing 
themselves, and not marching away to engage in bloody 
strife. Then, too, their music is very fine. It seems to 
wake every body up. Our men leave the office, and open 
the windows, to look out; laborers in the street stop for 
a few minutes to listen ; even the cartmen's horses show 
their delight, by tossing their heads and prancing and 
snorting. How you would enjoy living here where you 
could see such fine sights almost every day. would you 
not? But not too fast, my little fellow. See all along 
the street the crowd of boys following the soldiers. 
And what looking boys they are. Poor little fellows 1 
some without hats, very few'with shoes and stockings, 
scarcely one with decent clothes, dirty and neglected, 
though they are naturally as bright and smart as any boys 
you can find. Some of them, very likely, were born in 
the country, but their parents thought best to leave its 
quiet scenes, to come and live where there was more to 
see, and, as they hoped, more money to be made. But 
they were unfortunate. The father was thrown out of 
employment, and having got into bad company, learned 
to drink, and neglected his family ; the mother struggled 
along for a while, but at length sickened anddied, and the 
poor little boy, once so happy in his country home, is now 
wandering in the streets without home or friends, beg¬ 
ging for food when he is hungry, and sleeping in 
any corner where there is an old box, or wagon, to 
afford partial shelter. This is the sad history of 
thousands of such boys in this city. For a few years past 
benevolent individuals have spent much time and money 
in trying to help this neglected class ; and they have 
found the best way to accomplish it, is to send them away 
into the country, to live with some kind farmer. Many 
have been sent thus, and are now in a fair way to grow 
up usefu and happy. That was a very true saying, which 
somebody uttered a good many years ago: “ God made, 
the country, man made the town.” 
KEEPING PETS. 
One of the pleasures of country life, especially for the 
young, is the care of pets. Children here have their fa- 
vorites; sometimes a kit'eu or a bird, and occasionally a 
rabbit or a squirrel : but they all, except perhaps the kit¬ 
ten, seem to pine for their accustomed free life. We al¬ 
ways feel sorry when we see the poor little things cooped 
up or caged, as they must be here in the crowded city. 
But most of you can have your lamb, or rabbit, or pony, 
or your chickens and doves, with plenty of room for them 
to feed and frisk, or fly and enjoy themselves, thus adding 
greatly to your enjoyment. We love to see children fond 
of pets. The care of dependent animals helps to keep 
young people gentle and kind ; it cultivates the affections 
and they learn to love easily, w hich is a most desirable ac¬ 
complishment. When we see a boy fond of tormenting 
animals, by beating or stoning, or playing tricks upon 
them, we find it very hard to like him. He is injuring 
himself, as well as giving needless pain to the poor brutes. 
He is getting habits of cruelty and malice, which if un¬ 
checked, will make him an outlaw among his fellows. To 
love and be loved, is the great source of happiness ; such 
a boy is surely pro aring for a miserable life 
A BOUT BUGS. 
Many of our young friends seem to have a particular 
spite against bugs of all sorts. The girls, especially, look 
upon them as frightful little monsters, and if one happens 
to fall upon them, or to crawl quite near them, they are 
ready to scream and run, and sometimes almost to faint. 
We have seen a whole room full of young ladies in great 
commotion, because a large beetle had found his way 
into their company The boys, though less afraid of bugs, 
too often consider them as made expressly to be tormented 
and killed. We suppose this arises from the notion people 
have, that every odd looking creature is necessarily hurt¬ 
ful. The toad, for example, was for a long time consider¬ 
ed poisonous, merely, no doubt, from his looks ; for he is 
really a very useful little fellow, if he has such a homely 
jacket. In the garden one toad eats a host of noxious in¬ 
sects. If you will take pains this summer to watch the 
movements of the various insects you may find, it will 
afford you much greater pleasure than to destroy them. 
By learning their habits, you will become so interested 
in them, as to overcome much of the prejudice that now 
makes them unpleasant to look upon. Many of them, no 
doubt, are injurious to fruits and vegetables. These 
should be ascertained and destroyed ; but others, instead 
of being noxious to man, actually feed upon things which 
are injurious, and thus are our friends : as for instance 
the Tiger Beetle, which preys upon catterpillars, and the 
pretty little Lady Bug, which devours the troublesome 
plant-lice. It would be interesting to you to see how many 
different kinds of bugs and insects you could collect this 
season. They may be found in almost every situation, at 
almost every time of the day, and indeed some must be 
hunted in the night time. They can be easily put to death 
by dropping them into a vial of alcohol or whisky, and 
then a pin may be run through them to fasten them upon 
a white card. Butterflies and moths are best disposed of 
by shutting them in a tight box with a sponge containing 
a little ether, or chloroform, which soon puts them to rest 
very quietly, w ithout pain, and without injury to their del¬ 
icate plumage. 
As new specimens are obtained, it will greatly add to 
the pleasure, to look through some book describing in¬ 
sects, to find their names, and write them upon the card. 
Such a book will also aid in observing their habits. It is 
in this way that the most eminent naturalists have com¬ 
menced their labors, and though you may not become 
as famous as they have, you will find that bug-hunting 
will afford as good sport, and much more instruction, 
than catching fish and shooting birds. 
The girls, too, can share in this pleasure. They can 
not only prepare specimens, but, if they will select the 
colored wings and smooth shining shells of different va¬ 
rieties of insects, they can with a little pasteboard, gum, 
and varnish, by the exercise of taste and ingenuity, 
make fancy boxes that will be far more beautiful than 
any which the fancy stores can furnish Who will make 
the largest collection and the prettiest piece of fancy work 
in this way, the present year ? Let us hear how you pro¬ 
gress, when you have fairly commenced your cabinet— 
we don’t mean long descriptive letters, with three or four 
pages of detail, but simply how you get on 
